After the Matter
by Tailsgfriend
Summary: To say everything changed was an understatement, Blood Gulch was over and the teams returned home trying to get back to their normal lives but new views on life and a new threat will reunite the teams as the join together to face a new enemy. (After season 5)
1. Where Are They Now?

_ 'She's always been a rotten bitch...'_

Church snickered to to himself, this had been becoming more apparent about Tex. She had changed, at least in his eyes. Everything seemed to have changed for Church, it felt like his whole world was being turned around. To him it seemed insanity was taking over. It was always supposed to be him and Tex, Leonard and Alison, that's how he had wanted it for so long. Something inside of Church had told him the whole time he knew Tex that the plan was for them to be together, but if that's how it was supposed to be then why did the thought of Tex bring him so much hatred? Why did he want to get out of the relationship he worked so hard to be in? Why did everything in his life seem like a big lie? And why the hell did he not want to win that stupid game of hide and seek?!

_Somewhere else_

Grif sighed, he didn't want to admit it but life outside the military wasn't that fun either. Yes the first couple months it was great to be able to sit back and do nothing but it lost it's appeal. It didn't help much that he didn't really have anyone to talk to except for his sister, Kaikaina, and half the time she was on the phone with some random guy so he couldn't talk to her. If he was back at Blood Gulch right now he'd be talking to Simmons making fun of Donut's armor or complaining about Sarge. When the ship with Tex and Jr in it blew up the blues started to go home one by one, not long after Grif left.

The only reason Grif knew what the rest of the reds were up to was because Simmons would every once in a while call him. Donut had started an acting career, which Griff wasn't too surprised about since he seemed like the _'type'_. Sarge had become a boot camp general, again not that surprising taking into the account of his love for the military. Simmons on the other hand had a more normal job, he was an accountant, apparently his love for math actually took him somewhere. Grif unlike all of them had no job, even though life was now even more boring than the military he opted to playing video games rather than getting a job. Grif was snapped out of his thoughts when Kaikaina left her room and was heading towards the door, she had her long blonde hair straitened and her make up on, obviously she was going on a date.

"What are you doing?" Grif asked angry with his little sister who was wearing a small yellow dress that made him want to beat up the guy she was going to see. He didn't want to admit it but his sister did get around... a lot.

"I'm going to go meet up with Tucker." Kaikaina said with a smile on her face obviously not finding the fault with her clothes.

"Tucker from Blood Gulch? The one who used to make all those perverted jokes?" Grif asked, crossing his arms. He didn't really like Tucker, in fact he didn't really like any one on blue team, besides his sister. There was Church who was a jack ass, always flipping out and swearing like no tomorrow, Caboose who was dumb as a rock, probably even dumber than Donut, Tex who was a bitch, she had a thing with beating up everyone in her way, and Tucker who was an annoying pervert, always making jokes about banging chicks. Grif grumbled to himself when Kaikaina nodded her head enthusiastically, he really didn't feel comfortable with her seeing him.

"Yeah he's in town so we decided to meet up." She told her older brother, she then opened the door to their apartment and left. Grif got up from where he was sitting and grabbed a beer from the fridge, he needed something to get his mind off of his sister and Tucker.

"This is going to be a long night."

Somewhere else

Caboose sat down at the table in his apartment with the peanut butter and jelly sandwhich he had just made. He started to think back to Blood Gulch and his team mates, which was a common thing since that was one of the most eventful times of his life. Everyone had gone their seperate ways which made him a little sad. Sister was now living with Griff back in Hawaii, Tucker decided to travel around the country to see how many girls he could pick up, and Church had gone looking for Tex planning on taking her back home to Dallas after he found her.

Caboose didn't want to admit it but it made him even more sad when he thought about Church looking for Tex. It took him a little while to realize that he didn't want the two together and that he actually wanted to be more than best friends with Church. After Blood Gulch he was able to think things through more clearly and he realized that like Tucker had told him before he was obsessed with getting Church to be his best friend. Caboose noticed all the feelings he had for Church were odd, they weren't feelings friends usually had for eachother. The jealousy towards Tex made it even more apparent of what his true feelings for Church really were.

Caboose felt like there was no where to turn in this situation, no matter what he lost. He really did want Church to win the hide and go seek game, but that meant never seeing him again, never getting to tell him his feelings. If he did go see Church on the other hand he would be mad at Caboose for coming, he would probably be even more pissed when he found out about the feelings. Any ways Church was with Tex now, he always has been and probably always will be. Even thinking this through, the fact that Church would probably never like him back, it didn't stop the feelings from being there, the want to go see him. Caboose sighed, he doubted Church missed him, he never seemed to care. The blonde haired boy put down his sandwhich, he was only half way done and had lost his appetite thinking about this. Tex probably treated Church terribly, the thing that made this even worse was Church probably still would cling to her no matter how far off the edge she pushed him.

Caboose was about to go back to his room when there was a knock at the door. He wasn't sure who would come to see him, given that his parents were on vacation and he didn't really have any friends around. When Caboose opened the door there was a man with short brown hair in army fatigues, a serious expression on his face.

"Hello are you Caboose?" The man asked, Caboose just nodded in responce. 'What could the army want with me right now?' He asked himself.

"I'm from Command I was sent here because I may need your help with a critical situation. My intelligence informs me you're from Blood Gulch and were once infected with an artificial intelligence program, is that right?" The man asked the blonde.

"Yus! Wait, are you talking about the mean thing that stayed in my head for a while?" Caboose asked, the man nodded.

"The Omega that was in Agent Texas." He said.

"Then yes. He was like my room mate, but then he infected the Doc." Caboose said.

"Right, I'm going to need you to come with me, I need the help of people who were familiar with the AIs and the freelancer program." The man said, moving to the side allowing Caboose to leave the apartment.

"Then you might want to talk to Church." The blonde said excitedly.

"Who?" The man asked.

"He was the leader of blue team in Blood Gulch, he knows all about your freelancer program, he's dating Tex." Caboose told the man.

"Tex? I didn't even know that was possible..." The man started to say but Caboose cut him off.

"So where are we going now Mr..." He started to ask but trailed off not knowing the man's name.

"Washington, my name's Agent Washington, and we're going to pay your friend Church a visit."


	2. Church's Dilemma

Church sighed and leaned back on his couch, once again Tex and him were in another fight. He didn't even know what he did wrong this time, the two just seemed to always end up in a screaming match.

After Blood Gulch Church started to look for Tex, he ended up finding her in a place called Vallhalla, where the ship had crashed. Luckily her AI, Omega, was gone. Church guessed Omega didn't think the chances of survival after the crash was good and jumped to someone elses armor, but he didn't care as long as the AI wasn't in Tex, he was content. It had taken him two weeks to find her, he didn't even want to mention the time it took for him to find two normal bodies that weren't being used, which he needed since he couldn't return home in his spartan robot body.

Tex had ended up skinny with short red hair and a sharp featured face, it was a very fitting body for her, built to do the fighting she loved and a lot like her personality. Church was skinny and some what built, he had medium length black hair that he kept spiked up and a goatee. Even though Tex looked different she still had the same personality, Church on the other hand, who had a body similar to his original one, was starting to view his life differently.

Maybe once he was ok with all the fighting him and Tex did, but now... he just hated it. Every single day he would have to hear the same thing over and over again, all his flaws, how he did everything 'wrong' he was sick of it all. He no longer had feelings for Tex, the only thing that came up in his mind when he thought of her was frustration. After all the times she betrayed him, used him, she could at least be nice, not a full on bitch. He deserved better, they both deserved better, someone who actually understood them. Church was unhappy with his life with Tex, he no longer wanted to be with her, this had finally been the last point, he now knew that it was never going to change.

Something inside Church used to tell him it was the _'plan'_ to be with her but slowly he started to ignore it, he started to listen to his heart, as cheesy as it sounds. He no longer cared if it was the _'plan' _for them to be together, whatever than meant, he had been chasing her his whole life and it got him no were, she treated him like shit. Back at Blood Gulch he was treated great.

Church grumbled to himself, this brought him back to a problem he kept trying to forget. Caboose. He didn't want to win the game. Church didn't know when he actually started caring about Caboose but when he went home not seeing the blonde had unearthed some _'more than friend' _feelings that had been developing. He knew he shouldn't have them and he was trying to deny them, make them go away, but he didn't want to admit he could possibly have a crush on Caboose, that he could be...

Church shook off his thoughts, he shouldn't spend time worrying about this, he could deal with the 'problem' after he broke things off with Tex and got his head straight. He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to their room.

"I'm coming in." Church said as he opened the door, when he entered the room he was met by a fist that punched him in the face.

"Oww, what the hell Tex?!" Church yelled holding his eye, Tex was definitely still fuming.

"I'm not fighting with you again right now." She said angrily. Church sighed as he let go of his eye and looked at Tex.

"I don't want to fight... I just want to talk." He said, he sat on the bed and patted next to him, motioning for Tex to come sit down.

"I think we can both agree this isn't working out... We just aren't right for eachother." Church said when Tex sat next to him.

"I'm sick of the fighting, Church." She said looking over at him.

"I know, I am too, but you can't say you didn't see this coming. We fight all the time. If we stay together we're just going to rip eachother apart." Church said, Tex nodded in agreement.

"You're right. Things have changed, we aren't good for eachother anymore." She said, Church smiled at her, for once the two agreed on something. It was a little humorous that the one thing they agreed on was breaking up.

"So what are we going to do now?" Tex asked, that was the one thing neither of them had planned out.

"I don't know... We'll sell the apartment... You can use your money from the military to go travel around like you always wanted... I could always go and see some old friends-" Church was cut off when there was a knock on the front door. He shared a confused look with Tex before leaving the room to answer it, usually no one came to visit them, he had lost all connection with his _'friends' _from Blood Gulch.

When Church answered the door he was met by a slender man with brown hair, of course taller than him since Church was shorter than most guys. He knew right away the man was from the military given his army fatigues.

"Hello, are you Leonard Church, leader of the blue team in Blood Gulch?" The man asked, he seemed to have a proffesional demeanor.

"Yeah, why?" Church asked suspicious.

"I'm from command, we have a problem and need the help of peole who are experienced with AI's-" The man trailed off when Tex came in the room. Church guessed from the look on both their faces they knew eachother.

"Tex, I didn't know you'd be here." Washington said a bit intimidated. Tex walked over and stood next to Church

"Washington?" She asked, Church instantly remembered this name from Tex's stories.

"Washington, you mean Agent Washington from Project Freelancer? The one who wen crazy?" Church asked, Washington adopted a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"_I_ wasn't the one who went crazy my AI... Malfunctioned..." He said, he was definitely the typical person from command, hiding away information.

"Listen there's someone stealing AIs and I really don't have time to sit here and chat, so are you guys going to help or not?" Washington asked.

"Are you kidding me? You're asking us to help you chase multiple AIs?! We already had enough trouble with one AI! Why would we-" Church was cut off by Tex.

"I'm going." She said surprising Church.

"What?" He asked, before Tex could answer someone came running up the stairs of the apartment complex and into the hallway in front of the door. Church realized it was Caboose. He was still taller than Church, but not by that much now, Church was for some reason relieved to see he hadn't changed much, still had short blonde hair and that goofy smile on his face. Caboose's blue eyes brightened when he saw Church and he quickly ran over to hug him.

"Church!" He exclaimed as he squeezed the shorter man who blushed a little.

"Caboose..." Church said sternly, disguising his embarrassment with irritation. Caboose let go thinking Church was mad at him.

"Sorry..." He mumbled, making Church feel a little guilty. The older one sighed before holding out his arms.

"Make it quick." He said. Caboose smiled and wrapped his arms around Church.

"Are you coming with us to help Agent Washington?" Caboose asked still hugging Church. The latter of the two looked over to Washington who was staring back of him.

"Ugh...I don't have a choice now, do I?" Church asked, Caboose excitedly squeezed him harder.

"Yay, now I can finally hang out with my best friend again!" He said happily, Church guessed something like this would happen when the two had their reunion.

"Caboose... Can't breathe..." Church said running out of breath, the blonde instantly let go allowing him to breathe.

"It's only because if I left you alone with Tex she'd probably end up shooting you." Church lied when he caught his breath, there was really more to it than that, the fact he actually wanted to spend time with Caboose, that he actually cared about him, scared him. He didn't want the blonde to know about it.

"Ok, so if we got everyone-" Washington started but was cut off by Tex.

"Wait, there's one more person we have to get." Washington groaned in responce, obviously in a rush.

"Fine, but we better make this quick." He said.


	3. Getting Tucker

"Do we really have to get Tucker?" Caboose asked, he still didn't like him.

"There's no turning back now, we're already here..." Church told the blonde. They had left Dallas after they found out Tucker was in Hawaii visiting Sister.

"Besides, other than me, he was the best fighter on blue team." Tex said, both Church and Caboose shared a annoyed expression.

"It's not fair, you and Tex are together. You'll agree with her no matter what." Caboose whispered to Church who scoffed in remark.

"Obviously you haven't realized that Tex and I aren't together anymore." Church said, Caboose looked over at him, surprised.

"Did she dump you?" He asked, Church shook his head.

"No _I_ told her it wasn't working out." He said slightly annoyed, Caboose ignored this and smiled to himself. He never thought Church would willingly leave Tex... Maybe there was a chance.

"So we have a lot to catch up on, don't we?" Church asked after a moment of silence, Caboose nodded in responce. The two were walking behind Tex and Washington who were talking about Project Freelancer or something. Caboose could tell Church was trying to listen in, he was suspicious about Washington, but Church was suspicious about everyone, he on the other hand trusted Washington, he liked to find the better in people. He had found the better in Church, though it wasn't that hard to find as long as the two were alone. The two used to spend time together back at Blood Gulch when one of them couldn't sleep. It wasn't often but when they did Church showed the better side of him, he would only really act like that when he felt like he wasn't being judged. Caboose was happy to see that Church had been showing more of his 'better side' especially around him. This was yet again another indication that Church may have some feelings for him, but Caboose doubted it.

"I missed you." Caboose slipped out, a second later he stiffened realizing what he said. He looked over relieved to see Church wasn't mad.

"Keep this between you and me, but... I didn't want to win the game..." Church said looking over at Caboose, the blonde didn't notice him blushing. After Church said that he walked over to Tex and Washington, asking them about what was going on now. Meanwhile Caboose was thinking about what Church had said, he wasn't sure what Church meant by that, he didn't want to win the game, Caboose didn't know if he meant the game of hide and go seek where if Church never saw Caboose again he would win, but if it was that then it wouldn't make any sense, why would Church want to see him?

"Hey Caboose, we're here." Church said snapping the blonde out of his thoughts. He noticed he was lagging behind and ran up to Church. In front of them was the hotel Tucker was staying in.

"Ok, can we make this as quick as possible I really don't have much time, we have to go back to-" Washington started but was cut off by Church.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll try to be fast, we get it." He said sternly as he walked into the hotel, Tex and Caboose following behind.

_Meanwhile_

Simmons dialed the phone, calling Grif. The two talked often, well at least more than he talked to anyone else from Blood Gulch. He had gotten a message from Grif saying he needed to talk to him about something involving the former blue team, he didn't really know. He wasn't sure if Grif just wanted to gossip or something serious was actually happening. He had only been waiting a little bit before Grif picked up the phone.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hey it's Simmons, don't you have caller I.D.?" Simmons asked.

"Dude, I can't afford that stuff."

"It doesn't- Ugh, what ever. What did you need to talk to me about?" Simmons asked trying to ignore Grif's stupidity.

"Yeah, well Kaikaina saw Tucker the other day and apparently a freelancer from command is gathering up the blues." Grif said.

"What? How did your sister meet up with Tucker? And why would he tell her something like that?" Simmons asked.

"She went on a date with him because he was in town, she said in the middle of the date Tucker got a call from Church, the - uh - ghost, and, well, she listened in and found out what was going on." Grif told him.

"You do know I' going to have to tell Sarge." Simmons said earning a groan from Grif. Though they were out of the army Simmons was still loyal to Sarge.

"He'd want to know, it would be nice to-" He was cut off by Grif.

"You know that if you tell him he'd want to go chasing after them, having us tag along." He said, still lazy as always.

"Yeah but even you have been saying how boring it is out of the military, don't you want something to do?" Simmons asked.

"Ugh, fine... Call Sarge, I'll head over to meet you at your house." Grif said, the two didn't live far away from eachother.

"Ok, I'll see you soon." Simmons said, he then ended the phone line and started to dial for Sarge. This definitely would be interesting.

_Back with the blues_

"Tucker." Church knocked on the door to Tucker's hotel room, both Tex and Caboose were with him. He was getting a little irritated with how long it took Tucker to aswer the door since they told him they were coming, he basically knew the whole situation. Finally, after a few minutes, Tucker opened the door.

"Hey." He said, not noticing or not caring about how long it took him to answer the door.

"Are you done messing around yet?" Tex asked, walking away, she was more irritated than Church was. Tucker scoffed as he walked out of his own room.

"It's sad that that's not the first time I've been asked that this summer." Church laughed a little at Tucker's respnce.

"I'm not that surprised." She yelled to him.

"Good to see she hasn't changed." Tucker said sarcastically. Church had to admit no one really changed that much, sure there were some little things like Caboose being a little brighter, Tex being a little more... moody, and him a little nicer, but overall they were basically the same people.

"So can you tell me anything about what exactly we're going to be doing while helping this freelancer guy?" Tucker asked as the group walked to the elevator.

"Truthfully, I have no idea... I know as much as you on this." Church said, Washington told them barely anything. All he knew was that they were going to chase some guy who was stealing AIs.

"Is there a reason why-" Caboose was starting to say but was cut off by Tucker.

"Caboose, shut up." He said, like usual expecting Caboose to say something stupid.

"Tucker, let him say what he was going to say." Church said sticking up for Caboose. The doors to the elevator closed and the group of three were sent down.

"I was going to ask if you knew if there was a reason why Washington wants to get the AIs." Caboose said to Church, who instantly started to think about this.

"See, I knew he was going to say something stupid." Tucker said, Caboose looked down at the floor.

"No, he might have a point... Why does Washington want to stop the guy who's stealing all the AIs? Why does he want to retrieve them?" Church asked, he knew there was something suspicious about Washington.

"Do you really think he wants the AIs for himself?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know, but there's something he's not telling us, he's definitely hiding something." Church said. The elevator doors opened to the first floor where Tex already was, talking to Washington. Church had a suspicion she knew something about this too, she didn't even ask any questions about what was going on since they had left... It was like she already knew.

"Good, we're all set to go. And don't say there's something else we have to do because we are already falling behind. We NEED to get in the transport pods and go to command, we've wasted enough time." Washington said to the group.

"Oh, wait, can I go to the bathroom before we leave?" Caboose asked just getting the freelancer more angry.

"Come on!" He yelled starting to walk away.

"What crammed the stick up his ass?" Tucker asked before following along with Tex. Caboose turned to Church.

"I don't have a good feeling about this... What if one of us gets hurt?" He asked. Caboose didn't want Church to get hurt again, he didn't care if he was already dead or not.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Church told Caboose starting to walk away. Truthfully he did share the same worries Caboose had. He had a bad feeling about this, everything was starting to get a little suspicious.


	4. Recovery Beacon

Caboose got out of the transport pod, a little dizzy. He looked around him and found he was at Command. The room was practically empty aside from five suits of armor and a large computer. Washington walked by Caboose and stood beside the suits.

"Ok, so I got command to retrieve your old suits of armor, you may want to put them on now instead of later... Just to be safe." He said adressing the group who came out of the transport pods.

"Wash, how dangerous is this going to be?" Church asked. Even though he was already dead he didn't want to lose the body he just gotten, and he didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

"It's nothing to worry about as long as you watch your back." Washington said, putting on his armor. Church muttered something under his breath before putting his own armor on. When he saw Caboose fumbling with his Church went over to help him, over all the years in Blood Gulch the blonde still hadn't learend how to put his armor on correctly.

"So what did you do over the summer?" Tex asked Tucker after putting on her armor. Tucker thought about what he was going to say for a moment before replying.

"Sister. Bow chicka bow-Ow!" Tex had punched Tucker in the gut before he could finish and then walked away.

"Tucker, I wouldn't be too proud of that, she seemed pretty... easy." Church said to the turqouis spartan.

"At least _I_ got something." Tucker said. Church just walked away following Washington and Tex, deciding not to respond.

"What's wrong with him? He seems less... snappy." The turqouis spartan said to Caboose.

"Well he broke up with Tex... He's being a lot nicer now. I think she was a bad influence on him." Caboose said.

"What? Caboose why didn't you tell me? I would've been nicer to her earlier!" Tucker said angrily.

"Why? Do you still want to sleep with her?" Caboose asked, Tucker nodded in responce. It was a goal of his since Blood Gulch to sleep with Tex.

"What about Sister?" The blue spartan asked.

"There's nothing going on between us, I just slept with her." Tucker said with a shrug, Caboose eyed him suspiciously.

"That doesn't seem right..." But before Caboose could finish and ask why Tucker was so interested with Tex, Church came in.

"Are you guys coming or what? Tex and Washington are getting pissed." He said, Tucker nodded in responce and left the room. Before Caboose could leave Church stopped him at the door.

"You ok? You've been a little quiet lately." Church said trying to hide the worry in his tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you ok?" Caboose asked in responce.

"What do you mean by that?" The cobalt spartan asked as he started walking with the other.

"You've been acting... different. I wasn't sure if something happened." Caboose told him, refferring to Church being nicer.

"Well, I realized something when I went home, I don't even know, I guess it was better that I did, it's starting to change me." Church said, he didn't want to talk about it, especially not with Caboose, since what he realized was his feelings for the blonde. Luckily Caboose wasn't one to pry for information and didn't ask about it, instead the two walked in silence till they reached the others.

"Are we all set now?" Washington asked sarcastically, not a moment later a beeping started. Washington pulled out a small device. There was a blinking red dot on the screen of the device.

"What is that thing?" Tucker asked, meanwhile Tex looked over Washington's shoulder to see what was happening.

"It's a recovery beacon. It means there's an AI in trouble." The man in gray and yellow armor said.

"So we have to go save it." Tex said starting to walk away with Washington.

"The question is what are we saving it from." Church said to Tucker and Caboose before following the two Freelancers.

Meanwhile

"Delta." A girl with purple and green armor called out. She was under fire and sheilding herself with an energy sheild.

"Yes South?" A small transparent, green AI said.

"On my mark I want you to put the sheild down and transport yourself into the memory unit." She said.

"South I think I would be more useful here, and protocal dictates-" Delta was cut off.

"You're going in the memory unit! There's no way that thing could resist you and the sheild." South snarled.

"You're going to abandon me? Leave me for the Meta?" Delta asked, South ignored the question and started preparing to run. She needed to make sure when the sheild went away she wasn't shot.

"On my mark." The meta, a huge orange and white spartan, started running towards them.

"Get set." South took a deep breath.

"Now!" The sheild dropped and she started to run away not looking behind her.

"Get the Meta! And don't let South get away!" Washington yelled as him and the blues ran up the hill. Tex shot South a couple times causing the spartan to fall to the ground.

"Be careful he takes the armor from other people to use his powers, he may have taken cloaking from Tex when he took Omega." Washington yelled.

"Shit, Wyoming!" Church said, remembering his helmet was on the ship that crashed.

"What, Wyoming?" Wash asked. Church ran over and grabbed a rocket launcher getting to a higher place to shoot the Meta. Meanwhile Tucker, Washington, and Caboose stood behind a boulder, Washington trying to shoot the Meta.

"Caboose grab those spike grenades." Tucker said. The blue spartan took the grenades and threw one, accidently getting it stuck on the boulder in front of them. Both Tucker and Washington looked over at Caboose.

"That was the worst throw ever... Of all time." Washington said flatly.

"Not my fault. Tucker did it." Caboose said.

"Run!" Tucker said, the three jumped over the boulder just as Church shot the rocket launcher and Tex got ahold of the memory unit.

Time slowed down as the grenade blew up and the rocket was just about to hit the Meta, who was the only one who wasn't slowed down. The white and orange spartan looked around and walked over to Washington, he aimed his gun at the freelancer but before putting it down again, realizing he was running out of power. When he ran down the hill time went back to normal speed, everyone confused as to what happened and where the Meta went.

"Dammit, I told you to stop him!" Washington yelled as he walked over to Church.

"It would've been a lot easier if someone helped me out!" The cobalt spartan replied.

"I tried to help you, meanwhile Caboose blew up the boulder, Tex ran off somewher, Tucker just stood there, and you missed the Meta with the rocket launcher!" Washington yelled getting Church pissed.

"That shot was going to hit him. If he didn't use Wyoming's time distortion unit he would be dead right now!" He yelled back, even though he had terrible aim most of the time that shot was right on target.

"How did he get Wyoming's time distortion unit?" Washington asked.

"His helmet was in the ship when it crashed." Tucker said.

"Hey Wash, was that who I thought it was?" Tex asked with the memory unit that held Delta in hand.

"...Yes... It was Maine..." Washington said.

"It's a freelancer?!" Church asked Washington angrily, but he just ignored this. Tex handed him the memory unit.

"We need someone to take the AI." Washinton said, instantly Caboose spoke up.

"I'll do it." He picked up the memory unit and a small green guy appeared next to Caboose.

"Hello, I'm Delta. It's nice to see you again Agent Washington." He said. Before anyone could talk to Delta South spoke up.

"Wash, I'm hurt, I need help." Everyone walked over to where South layed.

"Washington, I think I should tell you, South tried to give me to the Meta, a lot like she did to you before. If we brought her along she would most likely slow us down." Delta said.

"What are you saying?" "Washington asked a little angry.

"I'm saying we should not let her hamper our progress." The AI said.

"Ok." Washington said aiming his gun at South, everyone except Tex were shocked.

"What are you going to do, kill me?" She asked, when there was no responce she aimed her gun towards Washington and fired, Tex quickly shot her back.

"You missed." Washington said, at the last second he moved out of the way.

"I... I didn't miss..." She said with a sly smile under her helmet before she died.

"Fuck..." Church muttered under his breath, when everyone turned to see him there was blood coming out of this armor and he was grasping his stomache.

"Church!" Caboose said running over to Church's side. The cobalt spartan fell to the ground, took his helmet off and started to cough up blood.

"I-I guess I didn't watch my back." Church said before passing out. Caboose looked over to everyone else.

"We need to help him!" He said, worried about Church.

"Tex, Tucker, go check that base over there make sure there's no one in it. Delta, Caboose, I need you to help me with this." Washington said, he had to try to get the bullet, clean the wound, and wrap it up as soon as possible.

"I hope Church is ok..." Caboose muttered under his breath, he really cared about Church, he didn't want to loose him again.


	5. Trouble

Caboose sat on the floor of the abandoned building Tex and Tucker scoped out, leaning against the wall. Church was laying in his arms, still knocked out. Caboose was determined on staying with him till he woke up. Washington, with the help of Delta, patched up the bullet wound, he said that Church would be fine and that he just needed some rest. Before Caboose could go any deeper into thought the small green hologram called Delta appeared next to him.

"You are worried Caboose?" He asked.

"What if he doesn't wake up? Or he's in a ton of pain? What if he-" Caboose was cut off.

"Washington told you everything was fine, there is not a large possibility that one bullet will cause that many problems." Delta told the blue spartan.

"Can't you at least use something to check him and make sure there's nothing wrong?" Caboose asked.

"You mean like a bio comm? I doubt that would work on him. He just needs rest." Delta said.

"But we're only staying here for one night, doesn't his wound need more healing?" Caboose asked.

"Yes, maybe it would be better for him to stay here longer, but the Meta won't stop stealing AIs and causing trouble just because Church got shot. The matter at hand is serious and given Washington's past with the freelancer program this is a primary objective. I'm sorry if you see it otherwise." Delta said, Caboose finally took his gaze off Church and looked over at the AI.

"What do you think about this?" He asked, wanting the AI's opinion on the matter.

"Well given the fact that there is a lot at risk, I have to agree with Wash on most of it. If Church doesn't feel up to it I doubt Washington would make him come along, he isn't that callous. But if it were me to decide, I would have him come. When I said there was a lot at risk, I meant for you guys too." Delta said to Caboose. The blue spartan looked back over to Church and ran his hand through his black hair, it was a little messy. Caboose watched as Church slowly took his intakes of air, he looked so peaceful.

"Why don't you just tell him?" Delta asked, once again snapping Caboose out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" He asked, not fully understanding what the AI was asking.

"Out of the AIs, I am the logical one of the family. I can pick up on things easily, and based on the thoughts you've been having and your behavior since Church got shot I can tell that you've been having feelings for him." Delta said, Caboose slightly cursed under his breath forgetting that when an AI lives in your head they can know your thoughts.

"Why don't you just tell Church your feelings?" Delta asked again.

"It's more complicated then that, if I told him he'd get mad at me and probably never talk to me again." Caboose said flatly.

"You never know what could happen Caboose, sometimes you just have to make that leap. He may not be there forever." Delta said. Before Caboose could ask him what he meant by that Washington came in the room.

"He hasn't woken up yet?" Washington asked as he walked towards Caboose the blue spartan just shook his head.

"If he doesn't wake up in an hour I'll call command and get a medic sent over." Washington said, hoping it would make Caboose feel better. When the cobalt spartan started to stirr the freelancer turned to Delta.

"Come on Delta, let's leave them alone. I need to talk to you anyway." Washington said walking out of the room, Delta following behind.

"Washington, I think you know I can't go a long range-" Delta started but was cut off by the freelancer.

"That's fine, I just need to talk to you quickly about something." Washington said.

"After South died the recovery beacon was still going off, do you have any clue why this was going on?" The freelancer asked.

"Have you checked in with command about it?" Delta aked.

"I thought I'd talk to you first and see if you could shed some light on it. It was probably just malfunctioning." Washington replied, not thinking much of it.

"Possibly." Delta said, he was about to go back to Caboose but instead turned back to Washington.

"Have you considered talking to command about relocating the Alpha AI?" Delta asked.

"There is no such thing as the Alpha AI." Washington said angrily before walking off. Delta returned to Caboose's head, not wanting to interrupt his 'reunion' with Church.

"Ngh... What happened?" The cobalt spartan asked starting to get up but then grasped his stomache.

"Be careful! That mean freelancer lady shot you." Caboose said as Church leaned up against the wall.

"How long was I out?" He asked looking over at the blue spartan. Caboose couldn't help but stare into his gray eyes.

"About a couple hours." He responded. The cobalt spartan looked away.

"Well this sucks." Church said with a small laugh as he scratched the back of his head, instantly sparking anger in the blonde.

"Don't play this off like everythings fine, I was really worried about you!" Caboose said, Church looked back at the blonde a little surprised at first but then his gaze softened.

"I'm sorry. I promise I won't get hurt again." Church said, Caboose couldn't help but smile, the cobalt spartan was the only one who could make him happy when he was mad.

Delta's words echoed in his head 'Why don't you just tell him?' To be truthful Caboose had no clue what to do, he wasn't that sure how Church would react if he told him about his feelings. Caboose looked into Church's eyes, getting lost once again. He wasn't sure what it was, Delta's words or just a overcoming feeling of confidence, but he quickly pressed his lips against Church's. The cobalt spartan was surprised at first but quickly melted into it. Caboose heart pounded fast as he realized what he was doing and he quickly seperated.

"I-I'm so sorry..." Caboose said getting up from where he was sitting and started to walk away, not even turning around when Church spoke up.

"Caboose wait!" The cobalt spartan said, he tried to get up but groaned in responce, gripping his stomache. Caboose started to walk out of the building, tears falling down his face. Delta appeared next to him.

"Caboose, I think he-" The AI started but was cut off.

"He probably hates me now... just go away..." Caboose said sliding against the outside wall and onto the ground. Delta quickly obeyed and returned back to Caboose's head. The blue spartan rested his head against the wall, looking up at the sky, not even hearing Church.

"Fuck..." The cobalt spartan muttered under his breath worried. He didn't know why Caboose had kissed him, but that had made him sure of the feelings he was having for the blue spartan.

"Caboose, come here!" Church called out again, trying to keep his eyes from watering up.

"...Please..." The cobalt spartan whispered under his breath. He wanted to be with Caboose, he wanted to be kissed by him again, he just wanted to know the other liked him back. Church pulled his legs close to him, ignoring the pain it caused and buried his head into his arms.

"Why did you run away?" He asked in a whisper as tears started to fall down his face.

The Next Day

"Tucker, Caboose, go secure the perimeter. Make sure the Meta isn't around." Washington ordered. Church couldn't go anywhere yet because of his injury and Tex was gone somewhere, she had a tendency to go missing.

"Ok, come on Caboose." Tucker said walking away, the blue spartan just followed without a word, Caboose had surprisingly been quiet all morning.

When the two were gone Washington entered the abandoned building, he found Church sitting down on the floor and leaning against the wall, he was staring down at the floor deep in thought. The cobalt spartan seemed quiet too, but that may have been because no one was really talking to him. For once Caboose wasn't right at his side.

"You ok?" Washington asked, Church looked over at the freelancer.

"What?" He asked, Washington could tell he hadn't slept from the bags under his eyes.

"I asked if you were ok." Washington said.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Church said looking away. Washington decided to let it be, knowing even if there was something wrong the cobalt spartan wouldn't tell him.

"You don't trust me do you?" Washington asked after a moment of silence. He knew ever since he met Church that he was suspicous of him.

"Well Wash, you don't tell us anything and expect us to follow you around and be ok with all of it." Church replied, a little snappy.

"Ok, fine, you want to know everything, I'm not trying to help out Project Freelancer, I'm trying to destroy everything they did, I'm trying to make things right again. The Director did a lot of bad things, Church, the AIs are one of them. I just want to end all of this. The meta wasn't always bad, but his AI, Sigma, and Project Freelancer changed him just like they did with Tex and Carolina, even South. I just want to destroy these AIs and let Project Freelancer finally end." Washington said. He heard his comm start to beep and walked away to answer it.

"Hello?" He asked.

"It's Tex." She sounded urgent.

"What's going on? Where have you been this whole morning?" Washington asked a little irritated. Tex seemed to always do what she wanted to do, not caring about anyone else.

"It's the Meta... He came... Need help..." The radio then went out, luckily Washington had gotten her coordinates.

Meanwhile

"Suck it Blue!" Tucker and Caboose were hiding behind a wall under fire from the reds. They had no clue how but Sarge, Grif, and Simmons had found out where they were.

"Tucker, call Agent Washington." Caboose whispered.

"What about Church?" Tucker asked.

"Uh- No he's still hurt." Caboose said looking away from the turqois spartan.

"Fine." Tucker said, going to comm Washington.

"Shit..." He muttered under his breath.

"What?" Caboose asked.

"Uh-nothing." The torqois spartan replied.

"Did you call Washington?" Delta, who was projecting right next to Caboose asked.

"Ummm, no, I was, uh, just going to call him." Tucker said suspiciously, turning his comm back on. It was only moments before he spoke again.

"Hello? Yeah It's me Tucker... The reds came back, they're shooting at me and Caboose... Yeah we're fine, we just need help... Ok, you'll come... Alright... Bye."

Back with Washington

Washington ran as fast as he could down the dirt path, trying to find Tex's coordinates as fast as possible. Though Tex was strong she couldn't fight the meta, who now had multiple AI's and freelancer gear. He was in such a rush he had ignored Tucker's comm call, but he wasn't too worried, he probably was just going to say that him and Caboose were on their way back and if so Church was at the abandoned building to meet them. When Washington came to a clearing he found Tex and the Meta, but strangely instead of fighting they just stood there talking.

"No one else will be hurt though, right?" Tex asked, before the Meta could respond Washington walked into the clearing, gun aimed at the former freelancer.

"Maine, you can't fight both of us." Washington said standing next to Tex, though everyone knew it was a lie the Meta grumbled and walked away.

"Are you ok?" Washington asked as he turned to Tex.

"I-I'm fine, why'd you let him go?" Tex asked, though she didn't seem hurt, she sounded shaken.

"Are you kidding me, we wouldn't be able to take him." Washington said, Tex looked at him for a moment before starting to walk away on the dirt path, returning to the abandoned building.

"Tough crowd." Washington said before following Tex.

Back with the Blues

"How long is it going to take him to come?" Caboose asked, him and Tucker still hiding behind a wall while the reds shot at them. Everyone froze when there was a shot fired at the reds. They all turned to see Church standing there in his cobalt armor reloading his gun.

"Guess who's back, ass-holes."


	6. Caring

"What are you doing here Church? Your-" Caboose started but Church cut him off.

"My wound is fine, you're the ones that needed help." Church said, his gun still aimed at the reds. Caboose glared at Tucker.

"Well, Wash didn't answer so I called Church instead..." He said with a small laugh. Delta went back into Caboose's head and Tucker backed up a little, afraid of how Caboose would take out his anger.

"What are you up to Reds?" Church asked, gaining everyone's attention and lifting some of the anger from Caboose, the reds hadn't started shooting again and were making the blues a bit suspicious.

"Us? You're the ones up to something." Simmons said.

"You're working with that freelancer." Sarge yelled.

"Who? Washington? No we can trust him... At least I think we can..." Church muttered the last part to himself.

"What are you doing then?" Simmons asked, finally walking over to the blues.

"We're helping catch this crazy guy who's been stealing AIs." Tucker said with a shrug, Sarge walked over, now interested.

"Why did he choose to bring you guys along?" Grif asked, still a far distance away.

"It's because of our knowledge of AIs." Caboose told them.

"Grif get over here!" Sarge yelled before turning back to the blues.

"We're coming along." He said, surprising everyone.

"What?" Simmons asked.

"I haven't had any action since we left Blood Gulch." Sarge said as Grif walked over and joined everyone else.

"Bow chicka bow wow..." Tucker said under his breath before being elbowed by Church.

"That doesn't mean Simmons and I have to help you." Grif said flatly.

"Simmons, are you going to help?" Sarge asked.

"Uh-Yes sir!" Simmons said standing up straight.

"Kiss up." Griff muttered.

"Grif, as your CO I'm ordering you to come along." Sarge said angrily.

"You're not my CO anymore, I'm not even in the army anymore." Grif replied.

"It's either this or go back home." Simmons said putting his hand on the orange spartan's shoulder, Grif grumbled knowing he shouldn't have told Simmons about how boring of a time he was having out of the army.

"Fine, I'll come along..." He said.

"I don't know if Wash would be onboard for this-" Church started but was cut off by Delta who had once again projected out of Caboose's head.

"I think Agent Washington would be glad to have more help, especially since you are limited to fighting after your incident with South." He said, Church rolled his eyes, not wanting to admit that the wound actually did cause him a lot of pain and restriciton.

"Is this another AI?" Simmons asked.

"Yeah, uh this is Delta." Church said before his comm started to beep. He walked away from the group to answer it.

"Hello?" He asked

"Church where are you?" It was Washington, and he sounded pissed.

"Well, uh, the reds came back and were causing trouble for Tucker and Caboose so I went to help, but everythings fine now, it's all solved and they want to help us out." Church said, he heard Washington sigh.

"Fine, meet me back at the building and we'll leave from there." The freelancer said before closing the comm.

"Was that Wash?" Tucker asked when Church walked back over to the group.

"Yeah, he's pissed." The cobalt spartan said with a laugh.

"Guess we better get back then." Caboose said before starting to walk away.

"What's wrong with him?" Tucker asked, he had been a lot less happy lately, Church just stared at the ground.

"Nothing, he's fine..." The cobalt spartan lied. After that the group started to walk back to the abandoned building.

At the Abandoned building

"Do you believe in the Alpha AI?" Tex asked Washington, the two were waiting for Church, Tucker, and Caboose to get back apparently the reds were with them too.

"What? Why would you ask that?" Washington asked surprised.

"Well it's just all the AIs seemed to talk so much about it and you know, there had to be a main AI, one all the other AIs were made from." Tex said remembering all the times the Director told them that their AIs weren't full AIs, they were fragments.

"Do you think the Director hid something from us?" Washington asked flatly.

"You never know, we all keep dark secrets Wash." Tex said surprising the other freelancer. Before he could ask what she meant about it Church and the others came.

"Sorry it took so long, Church got us lost." Grif said, sparking anger in the cobalt spartan.

"I did not get us lost." He said annoyed.

"Then why did it take us so long?" Tucker asked slyly.

"Oh come on, you too?" Church asked.

"Ok, stop! We need to go, there's somewhere we have to go." Washington said, walking away leaving the others to follow.

"Tex can we talk?" Tucker asked walking beside the freelancer who just ignored him.

"We need to talk about what happened the other night." He said to her.

"No we don't." Tex said angrily.

"Tex we-" Tucker was cut off.

"I know what we fucking did! I was there. There's no point in talking about it when it meant nothing." She said, walking ahead to get away from the turqois spartan who just sighed to himself.

"Hey." Grif said fastening his pace to catch up with Tucker.

"Oh shit..." Tucker muttered under his breath, knowing what the orange spartan wanted.

"Did you sleep with my Sister?" Grif asked, just getting to the point.

"Uh... Maybe." Tucker said flinching away from the orange spartan.

"GOD DAMMIT!" He yelled, catching the attention of everyone.

Time after that drifted by slowly, the group had been walking for hours, only Washington knowing the destination. It was starting to get dark as time went by and the reds, not used to how things worked with Washington in charge, were getting pissed. Even the blues were starting to get irritated.

Church looked over at Caboose, who was walking alone. It seemed everytime he tried to talk to him Caboose would walk away or not respond, Church had no clue how to talk to him about the kiss. He wanted to tell Caboose his feelings but he didn't know how to. Church was snapped out of his thoughts when Delta projected himself next to the cobalt spartan.

"Are you feeling alright, Church?" Delta asked, Church guessed this was a comment about his wound.

"Yeah, I'm not in as much pain as before." The cobalt spartan said.

"I wasn't asking about your wound." Delta said. Church sighed now knowing he was talking about what happened with him and Caboose.

"...I'm fine... I just... I just want to know why he did _that_." Church said quietly.

"I don't think Caboose would want me to answer that, as much as I'd like to help." Delta said looking at Caboose then back at Church.

"Can you at least talk to him for me? Get him at least to talk to me?" Church asked, he really wanted to be with Caboose. He wanted to lay in his arm and stare into his blue eyes forever.

"I will see what I can do." Delta said before disappearing into Caboose's head again.

"Can we stop for the night, it's already dark." Grif asked lazily. Washington groaned, they weren't even close to where he wanted to be, but it was getting dark.

"Fine, we'll sleep for the night in this clearing." He replied as everyone started to settle down.

A Couple Hours Later

Church sat on the ground leaning against a tree, he couldn't sleep for the second night in a row. Caboose was still on his mind. Why did he kiss him? Why wasn't he talking to him? Why was he avoiding to him and pretending like nothing happened?! Church groaned as he leaned his head back looking up in the sky. He was snapped out of his thoughts when a voice spoke up.

"Church?" It was Caboose, he was still up.

"Caboose? Are you ok?" Church asked standing up from where he was sitting and walking over the the blonde.

"I'm fine, just can't sleep..." He said not looking Church in the eyes.

"Uh- Wanna go on a walk?" Church asked. He had to talk to Caboose about what hapened.

"Um, Ok." Caboose said as he got up and started to walk with Church.

"Why did you kiss me?" He asked after a couple of minutes of silence. When Caboose didn't speak up Church asked the question again.

"Caboose, why did you kiss me?"

"Why have you been so nice to me lately?" Caboose quickly asked, a little irritated. Church was quiet for a little bit, shocked at Caboose's tone, but then spoke again.

"Answer my question first." He started sternly.

"Did that kiss mean anything to you?" Church asked.

"No... It didn't mean anything..." Caboose lied, looking away from the other man.

"...oh..." Church said, stopping in his tracks. Caboose looked behind him, noticing that Church had stopped and was now looking down at the ground, deep in thought.

"Church?" Caboose asked, worried and confused.

"You know what, I'm just going to go back to the others, we should really be getting some sleep." Church said, starting to leave. Caboose quickly grabbed his arm stopping him in his tracks.

"Church, what's wrong?" Caboose asked.

"Caboose, let go of my arm." Church said angrily. For the first time since they had left Church actually got really pissed.

"I answered your question now you answer mine." Caboose said not backing down.

"Ok, fine! You want to know what's wrong?!" Church yelled angrily as he snatched his arm away from Caboose.

"The only reason I went on this stupid adventure was because you were going! I like you, Caboose, Ok?! I've been trying to get you to realize it ever since we left! And the worst part of it all... The part that bugs me the most is that you've been screwing with my head this whole fucking time! And I actually believed for a moment that you liked me back!" Church yelled, finally letting everything out. Caboose stood there for a moment surprised, guilt swept over him when he saw Chuch was crying. Church was about to walk away but Caboose wrapped his arms around his waist.

"What are you doing?" He asked confused.

"I lied." Caboose stated.

"What?"

"I kissed you because I've had feelings for you since Blood Gulch, I just... I just didn't think you liked me back, Church." Caboose said.

"So I just made an ass of myself..." Church said looking away from Caboose.

"Of anything I'm the one who made an ass of myself." Caboose said lifting Church's face so he could look him in the eyes. The two gazed into eachothers eyes before Caboose leaned forward and caught him in a kiss, Church quickly melted into it and wrapped his arms around the blonde's neck. When the two seperated from the kiss Church rested his head against Caboose's chest.

"You haven't slept in a couple of days have you?" Caboose asked.

"I've been stressed out..." Church said with a sigh.

"Come on, let's go back, you need to get some sleep." Caboose said as he started to walk away with Church at his side.

"This is going to be hard to keept from the others." Church said, Caboose laughed a little to himself.

"Yeah, I don't think they would be too happy about it." He replied. When they reached the clearing Church layed down on the ground, Caboose next to him.

"I love you." Caboose whispered to him, Church smiled.

"I love you too." Caboose kissed Church on the head as he drifted off into sleep.

"I told you." Delta said to Caboose appearing next to his head.

"Oh shut up." Caboose replied smiling.


	7. Betrayal

"Ok, so we need to get some vehicles." Washington said to everyone after they woke up. The group was behind schedule, they couldn't even catch up with the Meta, and they still had a long way to go before they went to the place he wanted to be.

"Finally." Grif said. None of the reds were used to this much walking.

"Church, Tucker, and the Reds, you're coming with me. Tex, Caboose, you'll stay here." Washington said while everyone else put on their armor.

"Well I guess I'll see you later." Church said to Caboose.

"Ok, see ya." He replied before Church walked off with the others. Tucker came over to Church's side as they were following Washington.

"Hey can I talk to you?" He asked, he looked a little nervous.

"Uh, ok." Church said, hoping it wasn't about him and Caboose.

"It's about Tex..." Tucker started, Church sighed in relief.

"We slept together a couple of days ago." The turqois spartan quickly said.

"You what?" Church asked a little shocked, he wasn't angry or jealous just surprised.

"It was an accident!" Tucker said, Church scoffed.

"What did you fall?" He asked sarcastically.

"No, but I'm sorry, I know you two dated and-" Tucker was cut off by Church.

"We never slept together if that's what you're getting at, and I don't like her like her like _that_ anymore. You can sleep with her all you want, I don't really care." He said, now it was time for Tucker to sigh in relief.

"Just there's something else." The turqois spartan said after a moment of silence.

"What?" Church asked, Tucker bit his lip.

"I think I might like her." He said, Church immediatly burst out into laughter.

"You like Tex?!" He asked in between laughs, he never expected 'the player' to want to settle down with a girl, Tex especially.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you." Tucker said with a groan.

"Wait, no Tucker, I'll stop... I'll stop..." Church said as he stopped laughing, keeping Tucker from walking off.

"So have you tried talking to her about this?" The cobalt spartan asked trying his best not to laugh.

"Yes and she keeps ignoring me everytime!" Tucker said angrily.

"Well was it... Bad?" Church asked before bursting into laughter again.

"You know what, when you're having problems like this I'm going to be such an ass to you." Tucker said .

"I doubt I'll have _that_ problem." Church said.

"I hate you." Tucker said angrily before walking away, leaving the cobalt spartan laughing his ass off. Not much later they reached a place that Church remembered. Vallhalla. Where Tex's ship crashed.

"We need to be careful, this place is gaurded by multiple command security groups, our mission is to get three vehicles without getting noticed." Washington said as he stood in front of the group.

"How are we going to steal three vehicles without getting noticed?" Sarge asked.

"A distraction." Washington said before looking at Church. The cobalt spartan looked around noticing everyone looking at him.

"Uh- Why's everyone looking at me? I just got shot three days ago!" Church said angrily.

"Which is why it would be better for you not to be helping us steal the car in case we get attacked." Washington said.

"But I might get attacked being the distraction!" Church exclaimed.

"Better you than me." Tucker said laughing at the cobalt spartan.

"This must be karma for me laughing at you earlier." Church said as he started to walk away before Washington stopped him.

"Make sure it's a big distraction, just have fun with it." He said. Church grumbled and then walked away. He hid behind the crashed ship and looked around trying to figure out something to do. There were soldiers everywhere, mainly near the red and blue bases, when he saw a group walking towards the blue base he got an idea from 'the donut playbook'. He took out a sticky grenade and threw it at one of the soldiers and got it stuck on their helmet. Church then quickly ducked down making sure he wasn't noticed.

"So what do you think he's going to do?" Tucker asked Sarge.

"I don't know, if it were me I would go on a killing spree, shooting everyone that got in my way." He replied with a small laugh, Tucker backed away a little, making note to never let Sarge be in charge of a military strategy. When they all heard an explosion Washington spoke up.

"Come on." He said as they all sneaked around behind the ship to where Church was.

"Try to get them towards Blue base." Washington told Church who nodded in responce before running off to Blue base. A couple moments later there was another explosion and Washington and the others sneaked over to the red base. Luckily Church's distraction worked and there was no one near the base, no one to stop them.

"Damn." Washington said when the group found only two jeeps.

"What are we going to do now?" Tucker asked.

"They must have brought one truck to the blue base, we'll have to go get it." Washington said as he climed into one of the jeeps.

"Fuck no, I'm set with two jeeps, the blues can just walk." Grif said earning a glared from Tucker.

"You're not the one who makes the orders. We're going over there, we need to get Church anyways." Washington told the group, Tucker groaned before jumping into the jeep with the freelancer. The reds slowly got into the other jeep before following the freelancer to the blue base. Church was there, on top of the base shooting at the soldiers. Washington drove around the base and found another base, he quickly shot the one driver, making him fall out of the car.

"Tucker you take that jeep." Washington said before the turqois spartan jumped out of the vehicle and took the driver's position of the other jeep. He then did a U-turn following Washinton and the reds before stopping at the side of the blue base where Church was.

"Hey, Church, we're all set." He said to the cobalt spartan, Church looked over to him and jumped into the vehicle.

"You seemed to have a little too much fun there." Tucker told Church as he left the area following Washington once again.

"Uh, yeah, I got a little out of hand there... Sorry..." He said rubbing the back of his helmet. The group drove for a little until they were close to the clearing , Church jumped out of the jeep he was starting to get a bad feeling. He ran into the clearing, Tex was missing, when he saw Caboose lying on the ground unconscious he quickly ran to his side. Not moments later everyone else came to see what happened.

"Caboose?! Caboose, get up!" Church said shaking the blonde, Washington came over to his side.

"He's still breathing." He said as he checked the bio com. Everyone else came closer as Caboose started to stir.

"Caboose are you ok?" Church asked worried, Caboose slowly sat up holding his forhead which was bleeding a little.

"...Delta... He's gone..." Caboose told everyone.

"The Meta?" Washington asked, Caboose shook his head, he looked over at Church, his blue eyes filled with guilt.

"Tex." He whispered barely audible enough for everyone to hear. Tucker charged forward only stopped when Sarge held him back.

"She did not do this! She wouldn't betray us!" He yelled trying his best to get out of Sarge's grip and charge at Caboose.

"This isn't unlike Tex, she turned on us before!" Church said angrily to Tucker.

"Yeah I think we can all vouch for that." Simmons said under his breath.

"Tucker, you need to calm down." Washington said walking over to the turqois spartan, who started to stop struggling.

"Acting like this will solve nothing." Washington told him. Sarge let go of Tucker who just glared over at Caboose and Church before walking away.

"Just give him some time, he'll calm down in a little." Sarge told everyone. Washington went over to the jeep and grabbed something. He walked over to Church and gave him a first aid kit.

"You should clean out his wound." The freelancer told the cobalt spartan. Church nodded and opened the kit, gabbing a cloth and some watered down hydrogen peroxide.

"I think it's safe to assume Tex is working with the Meta." Washington said to the group.

"I think we should try to go find her." Church said as he was dabbing the cloth on Caboose's forhead.

"Are you kidding me? Even with Washington, we can't fight Tex." Sarge said.

"I agree, Tex is... She's almost as bad as the Meta, even without AIs." Washington said.

"Fine then, I'll go by find her by myself. We should at least figure out what's going on." Church said before realizing Caboose was looking at him angrily.

"Don't, you promised me you wouldn't get hurt again." He said, Church sighed, remembering his promise.

"Fine... I won't go..." He said after he finished cleaning Caboose's wound. The blonde smiled, he had a way of getting Church to do what he wanted.

A Few Hours Later

Church lied down next to Caboose, Tucker still hadn't come back from his 'walk'. He was pissed, Church knew he liked Tex but he didn't know Tucker was so crazy about her that he would be this ignorant. The cobalt spartan knew he had to figure out why Tex did this, turned on him, he just had to figure out how to leave without anyone else noticing. Church got an idea, he could go out of his body and leave, everyone else was asleep so they wouldn't notice.

The cobalt spartan quietly slipped out of his body and started walking away, he didn't know exactly where he was going but he had an idea as to where Tex would be. While the group was getting the vehicles she must have knocked Caboose out and went to find the Meta. Church guessed the Meta was somewhere with a good power supply, given that he had so much equiptment and AIs he probably ran out of power very easily, and the one place he knew had a great power supply was Zanzibar.

After a thirty minutes of walking he reached Zanzibar, a feeling of anxiety filled him for a moment when he saw no one there, but Tex came out soon later. Church walked closer hiding in a bush, he didn't see the Meta anywhere so he could approach Tex.

"Tex!" Church whispered. The freelancer turned around and saw Church.

"What are you doing here Church?!" She asked angrily.

"Is it true, are you working with the Meta?" Church asked immediatly as he came out of the bush.

"It's none of your business, but if I were you I'd leave now." Tex told him.

"You took Delta." Church said annoyed.

"The Meta has him now, there's no chance of getting him back." Tex said turning away from Church.

"Why are you doing this?" The cobalt spartan asked.

"I never asked to be stuck with you guys Church, Ok? I'm sick of just being a shadow! Of no one caring about me, not belonging! You may not know it now but things are a lot more serious than it seems, you need to watch your back." Tex told him.

"What do you mean by that?" Church asked.

"From now on the Meta and I are going to be going after you." Tex said.

"Tex, you're trying to kill me?" The cobalt spartan asked, shocked.

"He made a deal with me, if I help him kill you he wont hurt anyone else." Tex said turning back to Church.

"I was always there for you Tex, we all were! Do you know how upset you made Tucker? He's practically in love with you and now you're betraying us?!" Church asked, Tex looked to the ground.

"Goodbye Church." She said before walking away, leaving Church alone.

"Church?" The cobalt spartan looked behind him to see Washington.

"I can explain Wash." Church said, he could tell the freelancer was pissed.

"How?!" Washington asked.

"Well... Back in Blood Gulch Caboose accidently killed me with a tank." Church said rubbing the back of his head.

"So you're a ghost?!" Washington asked, Church nodded in responce.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me..." The freelancer said under his breath.

"Wash, I'm sorry. I didn't know how-" Church was cut off by Washington.

"Go back to you're body, Church." He said angrily, Church didn't respond and just disappeared, going back to his body.

"It all makes sense now..." Washington whispered under his breath before walking back to the clearing.


	8. Alpha

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Washington yelled angrily when he got back to the clearing. Church, who was already back in his body, looked around making sure no one woke up with the yelling.

"So everyone knew, you jus all kept this from me?!" The freelancer asked, pacing back and forth.

"Ok, maybe it wasn't the best idea not to tell you, but none of us wanted to freak you out." Church whispered, not wanting to wake everyone else up.

"Delta. Did he know too?" Washington asked the cobalt spartan.

"Well it _seemed _like he knew... He was smart, I'm sure he put two and two together." Church told Washington who sighed and started rubbing his temples.

"What did you find out about Tex?" Washington asked changing the subject.

"We were right, she's working with the Meta... They have Delta... But Tex wasn't making any sense back there... Apparently they're going after me now..." Church said rubbing the back of his head, he didn't understand it truthfully. Washington stared at the ground trying to figure something out.

"None of this makes sense unles..." The freelancer looked up at Church.

"Wake everyone up. We need to go somewhere." Washington said determined.

"What about catching the Meta?" Church asked.

"We're no longer the ones chasing them, we're the ones running away." Washington said before going to start the jeeps. Church sighed.

"Guys get up." He told everyone.

"Oh come on I just went to sleep." Tucker said as he started getting up. Church guessed when him and Washington were gone he came back from his walk.

"It's still dark." Grif complained grogily as everyone else was getting up.

"Get in the Jeeps, Washington said we have to go somewhere." Church said before going to one of the jeeps. He took the drivers position, deciding to give Tucker and Caboose a break, since they had just woken up, and let them rest while he drives. After the reds got in their jeep Washington drove off, leaving everyone to follow.

"What's going on?" Caboose asked Church with a yawn when they started driving, he was in the passangers seat. The cobalt spartan sighed knowing Caboose would be mad when he found out Church went looking for Tex despit his worries.

"Washington found out I'm a ghost." Church started.

"How?" Tucker, who was in the back of the jeep, asked.

"Well I kinda-uh- sneaked out of my body to go looking for Tex and he was following me..." Church said, making sure to not look over at Caboose.

"You what?!" The blue spartan asked angrily.

"At least I found out what was going on with her." Church said defensivly.

"You promised you wouldn't go though!" Caboose told the cobalt spartan. Before Church could talk Tucker spoke up.

"Is she working with the Meta?" He asked silencing both Church and Caboose.

"Yes..." The cobalt spartan said with a sigh. After a moment of silence he spoke up again.

"She told me that the next time they saw me they were going to kill me..." Church said, more to Caboose than Tucker.

"Why?" The blue spartan asked worried. Church just shrugged in responce before looking over at Tucker in the front view mirror.

"You ok?" Church asked the turqois spartan, noticing his quietness.

"Yeah." He responded in a not-too-convincing manner.

"Your sure, because-" Church was cut off by Tucker.

"I'm fine." He said sharply, Church then decided to just leave it alone knowing Tucker didn't want to talk about it. The rest of the ride consisted of Church and Caboose talking and Tucker, every once in a while, joining in the conversation. he three jeeps came to a stop when they reached a large building. Washington jumped out of his jeep.

"Where are we?" Grif asked as him and everyone else got out of the jeeps.

"We're at an offsight freelancer facility, don't worry though, it hasn't been used in years." Washington said.

"Why are we here?" Church asked as Washington walked over to a computer that was positioned onto a tree.

"You'll find that out shortly." He said looking at Church for a momment before turning back to the computer screen that had now brightened up.

"Filss, this is Agent Washington, open the doors." The freelancer said. The wall on the building slowly started to slide open as the ground shook.

"Come on." Washington said walking into the building.

"Is anyone else getting a weird sense of deja vu?" Church asked as the group entered a large training room.

"I'll be back, I need to go find some things." Washington said starting to walk away.

"Wait, what are we supposed to do?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know, mess around, have some fun." Washington said before leaving. Church went over to some stairs to the right of him before being stopped by Caboose.

"Where are you going?" He asked following the cobalt spartan up the stairs.

"I need to look around, this place feels so familiar, like I've been here before." Church said.

"Well have you?" The blue spartan asked.

"I don't know... This doesn't make any sense. This is a freelancer head courters, why would I have come here? But then again, why would this place be so familiar?" Church asked. When the two reached the top of the stairs they entered a room to the right, it had a large computer and multiple filing cabinets.

"I've had to have come here before." Church said angrily as he took off his helmet.

"Damn it! Why don't I remember?!" He yelled as he threw his helmet at the wall. Caboose took his helmet off and wrapped his arms around Church's waist.

"Calm down." Caboose said soothingly as he hugged the cobalt spartan. Church let out a deep breath before returning the hug.

"I feel like everyone knows something that I don't." He said reffering to Tex and Washington.

"It's fin, that always happens to me." Caboose said, Church laughed a little at this.

"I love you." Church whispered, the blue spartan smiled.

"I love you too." Caboose replied before kissing him. The kiss turned into a full blown makeout as Caboose pinned Church to the wall. Before it could go any further someone entered the room.

"Ahem." Both Caboose and Church seperated to see Washington standing in the doorway.

"Uh, hi, Washington." Caboose said, his face red from embarrassment.

"What's going on here?" The freelancer asked, walking into the room.

"Uh, nothing! Nothing's going on here!" Church exclaimed, still blushing.

"Church, tell me the truth." Washington said sternly.

"Nothing was going on." Church lied. Now the freelancer got angry.

"So what were you two just talking?" He asked sarcastically.

"What is your problem? Do you want me to tell you what Caboose and I were doing? That we're together? Because that's none of your business." Church told him, pissed.

"My 'problem' is that you guys have been keeping secrets from me since we started this mission. Big secrets. And I'm sick of it." Washington said. Caboose backed away a little, not wanting to be involved.

"I'm not the only one keeping secrets, Wash. What about you and Tex? You guys know something that I don't, something that actually involves me! So you have no right complaining." The cobalt spartan said turning away. Washington sighed, deciding to give up this 'fight'.

"I'm sorry... It really is none of my business, I've just been a little... stressed with everything going on." Washington said rubbing his temples.

"A little?" Caboose asked under his breath.

"Just forget about it. You didn't see anything and I never freaked out at you." Church said turning back to the freelancer, who nodded in responce.

"So what did you come in here for?" Caboose asked, injecting himself into the conversation. Washington looked down at the floor for a moment.

"There's something really screwed that happened in Project Freelancer... Church you might want to hear this." Washington started.

"The AIs the freelancers got were only parts, fragments, of a main AI. The director could only really get his hands on one AI, Alpha." He continued. A flash of a memory came in Church's mind, he gripped his head in pain.

"Did they... Did they tortured it?" He asked, Washington nodded.

"The director continuously ran simulations where Alpha would fail, again and again. He even used Sigma, Gamma, and Omega to help. His own creations were turned against him. Alpha shed the parts of him that he could no longer survive with, his logic so he could no longer analyze the situation, his rage so he could no longer be angry with what they were doing to him, his deciet so he couldn't feel the betrayal with what was happening. All these parts made up the AI's. Lastly he shed his memories, and I was lucky enough to be stuck with the AI that had them. I've known most of what they did from the start." The freelancer went on.

"What happened Wash? What did they do to it?" Church asked, surprisingly angry.

"Alpha was broken, he no longer remembered anything of what he went through with Project Freelancer. The director put false memories in Alpha and left him somewhere no one would find him. He was led to believe he had a normal life, but there were other people who knew." Washington said as he walked towards Church, standing only feet away.

"Church, I know why are you able to survive without a body. Why you can jump from suit to suit of armor. The Meta, Tex, and Delta, they all knew. Church, you're an AI. You are the Alpha." Washington said. There were a few moments of silence before Church spoke up.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" He asked.

"It all makes sense. Tex was always treated specially from the director..." Washington was cut off by Church.  
"Are you saying she's an AI too." He asked.

"No, you were based off of the Director, she was a by product of a memory he had. A memory about someone he loved, Alison, she died very early in her life. That's why Tex always fails, no matter how hard she tries." Washington said, Church backed away a little.

"I don't believe you." The cobalt spartan said.

"I expected you not to, that's why I got these." The freelancer said handing Church a USB drive.

"This should give you all the evidence you need, between the video logs and the journals." Washington said. Church looked at it for a moment before going over to the computer and plugging it in. The screen turned on and tons of files appeared. Church opened one, a video, and an old man appeared with black hair that was slicked back and glasses on, the Director, next to him there were three small AIs. One was red and looked like it was on fire, Sigma, another was a blue spartan and very poorly holographed, Gamma, and the last one was a purple spartan, Omega.

"The simulation is almost complete." The Director said, looking over to a holographic screen where a cobalt spartan AI was.

"Alpha?" The Director asked, gaining the attention of the AI on the screen.

"Director, what happened?! Is everyone ok?!" Alpha asked worried, Church gasped and his eyes widened when he realized it was his voice, it was him. Caboose stepped towards Church shocked, while Washington just watched from the other side of the room.

"I'm sorry Alpha." The Director said.

"Is someone hurt?" Alpha asked desperatly.

"Three freelancer's are dead, Alpha." The Director said turning away from the screen.

"Who? Who died?" The cobalt AI asked.

"Caronlina, Washington, and Tex... I'm sorry Alpha." The Director told him starting to walk away, ignoring Alpha's pitiful cries.

"He's ready Counselor." He said. The clip then ended.

"Come on Caboose, let's leave him alone for a bit." Washington said to Caboose as he started walking out of the room, only stopping to make sure the blue spartan was following.

"I'll come check on you later." Caboose whispered to Church before leaving. The cobalt spartan nodded before turning back to the screen, clicking on a written journal. Tears starting to well in his eyes as memories filled his head. Memories of what happened to him, the torture, the truth that he was, in fact, Alpha.


	9. The Plan

Caboose walked up the stairs and went the room to the right, deciding to check up on Church. When he entered the room he found the cobalt spartan pacing back in forth while a video on the computer played in the background.

"Church, you're still awake?" Caboose asked walking over to him, everyone else had fallen asleep and the only thing keeping Caboose awake was the fact he had to make sure Church was ok. When he walked towards Church he noticed his eyes were a little red with bags underneath them and his hair was messy.

"I can't sleep, too much is on my mind right now..." Church said still pacing.

"Is about you being Alpha?" Caboose asked, the cobalt spartan nodded.

"Even after watching all these videos I can't remember what happened, it's all like a faded dream to me. I just can't believe it... I'm an AI..." The cobalt spartan said in disbelief.

"It's not that big of a deal, is it?" Caboose asked, he knew from the some what irritated look on Church's face that he said the wrong thing.

"It means that my whole life is a lie. I was based off the Director, I'm not even my own person!" The cobalt spartan yelled.

"Church, if you weren't your own person you'd be with Tex like the Director was with Alison, you'd be exactly like him, but your not." Caboose said, Church perked up when he heard this, realizing Caboose made a very valid point. The blue spartan went over to the computer and turned the videos off, he felt like Church was just torturing himself by playing them.

"I don't think you should be trying to remember all this stuff that happened to you... You should be trying to forget and move on." Caboose told him.

"I don't know Caboose..." Church started with a sigh as he started to walk over to the blue spartan.

"I want to remember but I don't at the same time... I want to know what he did to me, but I don't know what will happen, how I'll feel when I do." The cobalt spartan told Caboose, who gave him a disappointed look.

"This will only get you upset and that's the problem, that's why you shouldn't try to remember." He said, Church looked away from the blue spartan.

"You're right..." He said quietly, Caboose smiled and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"You need to stop stressing out over this, everything's fine." The blue spartan told him.

"Well, the Meta and Tex are trying to kill me because I'm Alpha, but that's not that big of a deal." Church said sarcastically, Caboose poked at his forhead playfully.

"There's no use in worrying about that right now, we're safe here." He said, Church laughed a little.

"Yeah I guess you're right again." The cobalt spartan said, Caboose gave him a small kiss.

"Do you wanna finish what we started earlier?" He asked, Church smiled and wrapped his arms around Caboose.

"What do you think?" He asked, the blue spartan then captured Church in another kiss before pinning him against the wall. Both were glad that they could finally have time alone together, for it was surely going to be an eventful night.

The Next Morning

Washington got up from where he was sleeping and put his armor on. Most of the group slept downstairs in makeshift beds. Tucker, who was sitting partially upright, leaning against a wall, still had his armor on. He seemed to not be taking Tex's betrayal so well. The reds on the other hand had their own little corner where they slept. Sarge still believed in the red and blue rivalry and wouldn't let his 'team' too close to the blues, fearing that they would kill them in their sleep or something. The freelancer had no clue where Caboose or Church were, but he guessed they were off somewhere together, they were awfully close.

After he got his armor on Washington walked away from the group and started down a hallway. At the end he found a weaponry room. He entered the room and started to look around, grabbing the good weapons. The freelancer knew that the Meta was going to catch on to where they were soon, especially since Tex was helping him. The group was going to have to leave soon and when they did it would be better to be prepared with as much weapons as possible. Things were much more drastic than he previously thought, the Alpha AI was at stake here. If the Meta got Alpha he would be damn near unstoppable. Washington was trying to do his best to keep everyone safe, he needed to protect the group, especially since they were one of the closest things he's had to a friend in a while.

The freelancer packed the weapons into cases before leaving the room with them. He went back to the group, who still wasn't awake, and dropped the cases down. Washington turned around when he saw the lights upstairs go on out of the corner of his eyes. That must've been where Caboose and Church had slept. The freelancer debated going up there to talk to them for a moment but decided to wait till they came downstairs just in case, he didn't want to interrupt something again. Luckily about 5 minutes later the two started walking downstairs, they already had their armor on. As they got closer Washington noticed their hair was messy and they looked like they hadn't got much sleep.

"You guys look tired." The freelancer said.

"Yeah we didn't go to sleep till late." Caboose said, he didn't look half as tired as Church.

"I barely even slept and when I actually was able to fall asleep I had nightmares and woke up like five minutes later." The cobalt spartan said drowsily.

"Well what were you guys doing before that?" Washington asked. The two looked at eachother before looking back at the freelancer, neither of them saying a word.

"I don't want to know that, do I?" Washington asked flatly.

"No." Caboose said, shaking his head.

"Not at all." Church told him.

"Are you two like together or something?" The freelancer asked, remembering when he walked in on the two in mid make out. Church let out a sigh.

"Uh yeah... Yeah, we're together." The cobalt spartan said looking away from Washington embarrassed.

"We've been together for almost a week now." Caboose said, not as afraid to share with Washington.

"A week? So you two got together on this mission?" The freelancer asked.

"What can I say, I guess after everything the stress of being shot and almost killed made me realize a few things." Church said. The three looked over to the group that was sleeping when Tucker started to stir.

"Hey, can you keep this from the other guys? We'd rather keep this a secret." The cobalt spartan said scratching the back of his head.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Washington said, he then turned around facing the group. Tucker had woken and was getting up from where he was sitting.

"What's going on?" The turqouise spartan asked as he walked over to the freelancer and the other two blues.

"We need to start getting ready to leave." Washington said putting his helmet on.

"Wait, why?" Caboose asked the freelancer.

"The Meta and Tex are coming after Church, remember? They've been on our trail since we left Vallhalla." Washington said, no one noticed that the reds had just woken up.

"Are you saying the reason we're being hunted down is because of this blue-tard?!" Sarge yelled from the other side of the room, Church let out a groan.

"It's more complicated than you think." Washington told the red leader.

"Really? Because it doesn't sound too complicated." Simmons said.

"Yeah, the blues always caused trouble for us." Grif agreed, this raised more anger in Church.

"Us causing you trouble?! You helped lead me to my death! You killed Tex, blew me up, sent everyone to the past, and made Andy blow up in the ship with Tex, Jr, and Sheila in it!" The cobalt spartan yelled angrily, Caboose backed up a little.

"Am I still the only one wondering if a ghost can have an aneurysm?" Tucker asked looked around, but no one responded, they were either too pissed, confused, or, in Caboose's case, nervous to speak up.

"Church calm down. As for your guys," Washinton turned over to Tucker and the reds.

"Stop instigating, this is serious." The freelacer told the group.

"Why exactly do they want Church anyway?" Tucker asked, both Washington and Caboose looked at the cobalt spartan.

"Because... I'm an AI." Church said flatly, Tucker and the reds looked at him like he was crazy.

"You are one of the computer programs that have been causing us trouble for the past five years?" Tucker said before bursting out laughing, not believing a word of it.

"I don't even think you'd fool Donut with that." Grif said, Simmons nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we're not that deceptible." The maroon spartan said, Church groaned before looking over to Washington, hoping for the freelancer to help him out.

"It's true, he's the Alpha AI. It's why he can jump into people's minds, why he knows so much about the freelancer project, it's why Tex and the Meta are chasing us." Washington said.

"And it's why Omega didn't change him at all." Caboose added, the rest of the group still didn't look too convinced.

"Listen, just trust us on this one." Church said, not wanting to show the rest of the group the videos Washington had found.

"I'm based off of the Director of Project Freelancer, Dr. Leonard Church, and Tex... She was based off of someone he lost early in his life, Alison..." The cobalt spartan told the group, of course Tucker piped up after this.

"Are you saying that Tex is an AI too?!" He asked angrily.

"Oh come on Tucker, do you really need to ask that one?!" Church asked, the turquoise spartan glared at him.

"We're not helping _a blue_, especially when it means being hunted down by two ex freelancers and their crazy AIs." Sarge said as he started to walk away.

"Yeah, it would probably just be better to leave Church here and let the Meta and Tex get him." Grif said, Washington was about to speak up to defend the AI but Caboose cut him off.

"We aren't leaving him behind. We never left you guys behind when you needed our help." The blue spartan said angrily.

"Yeah and anyways, there's always a chance Grif might die." Tucker added with a small laugh.

"What? Tucker you're going to help them?" Grif asked.

"Well, yeah, I thought that was a given. They are my team." Tucker said, Church leaned over to Caboose.

"And because he _thinks_ he can get Tex back to our side." He whispered, just loud enough for the blue spartan to hear.

"Hmpf... Fine, but this is the last time we're helping you." Sarge said after a moment of thinking. Washington perked up and took the head of the group.

"Ok, so we need to find somewhere far away from here, somewhere where no one is and no one really wants to go to so we know we'll be safe there." Washington said, Church looked around the group before turning back to Washington.

"I think we know the place." He said flatly.

Church looked down at the ground as they walked in Sidewinder. It was one of the many places he had found to hate while in the army. It was surprisingly quiet as the group walked along a path, the only sound was the crunching of snow under their feet, most of them were reminiscing on the past. Church couldn't help but think about what Grif had said before. Thinking about it now he realized how much danger he was putting the rest of the group in. The Meta and Tex were only after him, but if the others continued helping him and 'got in their way' they wouldn't hesitate to hurt everyone. Church didn't even know the point in it, was he really that important? He couldn't even remember his past and he was stripped of half his AI qualities. The cobalt spartan knew they couldn't run forever, there would have to be an end.

Church looked up at the group who was walking and he took in his icy surroundings. They were now in a clearing between two bases, Church saw his old blue base, he hadn't been there in a while. The cobalt spartan looked back at the ground again in regret, he wished he could go back to the times in Blood Gulch, the simple times. Though he hadn't realized it then things were pretty good there, it depressed him a little knowing things would just get worse and more complicated. Church stopped in his tracks, he now knew what he had to do now in order to keep everyone safe.

"Wash." Church said to the freelancer, everyone stopped and looked over to Church to see what was wrong.

"What is it Church?" The freelancer asked. Church took off his helmet before speaking up.

"We can't keep doing this anymore... We can't keep running..." He said looking at the ground. Caboose walked over to the cobalt spartan's side.

"What are you saying?" He asked, keeping his helmet on to hide the worried expression on his face.

"The Meta and Tex are going to catch up to us sooner or later, it's no use. We have to force the truth that there's no safe place we can hide, no place to go to to get away from them. They're going to find us... I think it would be best if..." Church trailed off before looking up at everyone.

"I think it would be best if we let them kill me." He said. The words echoed in everyone's ears, no one spoke up for a couple minutes, unsure of how to react to this. The temptation of leaving the stress and danger behind had been lingering around in the group but their conscience still questioned it. Could they really leave Church behind? He was their friend, their team mate, the last AI.

The main AI.


	10. Is This The End?

"No we can't do that!" Caboose said, a mixture of anger and sadness in his voice. He looked over to Washington for help.

"Church, do you realize how important you are? You're the main AI, you're Alpha. We can't just let them desetroy you." The freelancer said.

"Anyways if they killed you we wouldn't have a chance at defeating them." Tucker piped in. Church was the strongest AI, with him it was possible to fight the Meta with all the AI's.

"I think it's a good idea, one less blue means an advantage for the glorious red team!" Sarge said. Tucker, Caboose, and Washington gave the red leader an aggrivated look.

"Look, guys, there's no point in running anyways. This is going to end in either two ways, us fighting Tex and the Meta or them killing me. I don't know about you but I'd rather go the way where the least amount of people get hurt." Church said to the others. Before anyone else could speak up a shot was fired and hit Church on the shoulder.

"Fuck!" The cobalt spartan yelled, everyone turned to see Tex standing up on a snowy hill behind the old red base.

"Shit, she found us!" Washington yelled.

"Maine, I found him! Come on!" She yelled before starting to run towards the group.

"Leave now." Church said to the group, but everyone stayed put.

"We're not leaving. They want a fight, they're going to get one." Washington said, he then turned to Caboose.

"Get Church out of here." The freelancer told the blue spartan who nodded in responce. Caboose grabbed Church's wrist and started to drag the cobalt spartan away.

"No, I need to stay here." Church said, snatching his wrist away from the blue spartan. Caboose glared at the cobalt spartan for a moment before picking him up and carrying him over his shoulder. Church struggled, trying to get free from the blue spartan's hold but gave up as it became apparent that he couldn't. Caboose ran into the former blue base and put Church down, now figuring he was out of harms way.

"I need to help them." The cobalt spartan said, Caboose blocked the exit to the base.

"It's too risky Church." The blue spartan said, Church sighed in defeat and walked over to Caboose's side, looking to see what was going on back outside.

"We need to get the Meta down first, he's the most powerful." Washington told the group as Tex and the Meta ran towards them.

"I'll take care of Tex." Tucker said, sword in hand as he prepared to fight the former freelancer.

"You sure?" Washington asked, the turquoise spartan looked over him and nodded.

"Positive." Tucker said before going off to face Tex.

"Hey bitch!" He said as he lunged forward trying to stab Tex. She quickly dodged out of the way and kicked him in the gut making the turquoise spartan stumble back a bit.

"Just let us get Church and we'll leave! No one else will get hurt." Tex said. Tucker laughed a little through gritted teeth and tried to punch Tex, but the freelancer grabbed his fist without a responce.

"You need to learn the difference between your enemies and your friends, Tex!" Tucker said as he snatched his hand away and tried to punch her with the other but yet again she dodged it.

"Church is our friend. We're not turning our back on him! Sure he may be an ass hole but he's been here for us since Blood Gulch, which is more than I can say about some people." The turquoise spartan said, bracing himself for a punch. Underneath her helmet Tex's eyes filled up with anger. She kicked the back of Tucker's leg and punched the spartan in the stomache causing him to trip and fall to the ground with a loud thud. Tex stepped on of her feet on Tucker's stomache, pinning him down, she then aimed her gun at the turquoise spartan's helmet, the tip of the gun was only inches away from his face.

"Tex?" He asked, hurt in his voice. Church, who was watching this happened from the base, turned to Caboose.

"I need to help." He said, the blue spartan sighed.

"Church-" Caboose started but was cut off.

"I can do this Caboose, I just need to talk to Tex, go in her mind or something. I can't just sit here watching everyone get hurt." Church said, Caboose looked at the ground for a moment before taking off his helmet.

"I don't want you to hurt, I can't loose you Church." He said, his voice filled with worry.

"I won't get hurt, I promise." Church said, Caboose let out another sigh before putting his arms around Church's waist and catching him into a kiss.

"Go." The blue spartan said after seperating from the kiss, Church smiled at him.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too." Caboose said, and with that Church left his body, now in AI form. He ran out of the blue base and headed towards Tex. Just as she was about to shoot Tucker, Church went into her mind, freezing her and allowing the turqouise spartan to get away from the former freelancer. Inside Tex's mind it looked like it was the training room of one of the former freelancer bases. It was empty except for a few boxes, Church looked around before noticing Tex walking towards him, she looked angry.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She asked, Church backed away a little, trying to keep a safe distance from her just in case.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said. Tex lifted up her gun and pointed it at Church, the cobalt spartan froze for a moment before grabbing his own gun, pointing it directly back at the former freelancer.

"Put the down the gun." He said. Tex stood still, not moving the gun from where it was pointed.

"Tex don't make me shoot you." Church said, Tex scoffed.

"You shoot me?! That's funny." She said with a laugh.

"I've been practicing." Church responded flatly.

"That's a lie." Tex said, still not budging.

"Would you really want to find that out?" Church asked, after a couple of moments Tex lowered her gun.

"Put it on the ground." The cobalt spartan told her. Tex groaned in annoyance before putting her gun on the floor, Church then kicked it away.

"What are you going to do now, kill me?" Tex asked Church, who still had his gun pointed at her in case she tried anything. The cobalt spartan searched her face before dropping his own gun.

"No, I just want to talk." He said. Tex turned away from him.

"It's about me helping the Meta, isn't it?" She asked, Church looked down at the floor.

"I just want to know why you're doing this, why you're betraying all of us." He said walking toward Tex.

"Do you know how much you put me through, how much you put the freelancers through?" She asked, Church crossed his arms.

"_I_ wasn't the one who put you through everything, the Director was." He said with annoyance.

"But you were the one who brought me back Alpha!" Tex yelled as she turned around, getting Church even angrier.

"What do you want me to say?! Sorry, Tex, if I knew you'd be this miserable I wouldn't have brought you back! But you know what Tex, you're here now, so you need to stop moping around and get over it!" He yelled back not caring when tears started to form in Tex's eyes.

"I can't get over it. Not when there's no place I belong. You have your stupid blue team but my team's gone, there's no one for me!" She said. Church put his hand on her shoulder.

"You belong with us, you always have been. We've been here for you this whole time, we're your team. And there has been someone who's been looking out for you for a while now." He said giving her a small smile.

"Tucker?" She asked, Church nodded.

"He likes you... a lot..." He told her scratching the back of his head, Tex smiled a little.

"Listen Tex, you can stop all of this now, be a good guy again." Church told her.

"That would be nice." Tex said with a small laugh. Church himself laughed a little glad things were starting to get better.

"Ok, I'm gunna go now. I'll see you after this is all done with." The cobalt spartan said before slowly fading away, leaving the former freelancer's mind. When he was back at Sidewinder Tucker looked at himin shock.

"What the fuck just happened?" The turquoise spartan asked. Before Church could respond Tex fell to the ground. Tucker quickly ran to her side.

"What did you do?" HE asked as he held the passed out freelancer in his arms.

"I got talked to her... It's over now, she's back on our side." Church said before turning to where Washington and the reds were fighting the meta. Sarge went to shoot the white and orange spartan but the shotgun was taken out of his hands and thrown to the side, the Meta then kicked Sarge in the gut making the red leader fly backwards. The Meta then punched Grif, who was behind him, causing the orange spartan to fall to the ground. Washington shot the former freelancer in the chest, provoking him so he'd come fight, but the Meta turned around when he heard a gun reload. Simmons had his gun aimed at the Meta but the former freelancer quickly grabbed his throat and threw him backwards. Now he finally started towards Washington.

"Tucker, get Tex in the blue base. I'm gunna go help Washington." Church said, Tucker nodded as he picked up Tex and started towards the old blue base. Church ran over to Washington and did something he thought he'd never do, became his AI. The Meta stopped in his tracks and his AI's appeared.

"Alpha, where's the Alpha?" The AI's asked, the Meta grabbed his head as all the AIs spoke up.

"He's far away from here, sorry you're never going to get the chance to meet him." Washington said aiming his gun at the Meta, he didn't know that Church never left like he was supposed to.

"You know what Wash, why don't they meet me right now?" Church appeared next to the freelancer. Just like Delta he was about the same size as Washington's helmet in AI form. He was a light cobalt spartan AI and glowed brightly. Washington stared in shock at Church.

"What are you doing here?! You were supposed to leave!" The freelancer yelled, Church turned to him.

"What can I say? Danger calls to me. Besides you looked like you needed help." The AI said. Washington was about to respond but was cut off by Church.

"Watch out!" He yelled when the Meta jumped forward with his knife trying to stab Washington.

"Dammit!" The freelancer said as he dodged the blow, Church, still at Washington's side, turned to the reds.

"You guys go to the blue base, everyone else is there." He ordered. The reds left without a responce, none of them wanting to fight the Meta anyways.

"Church." Washington said angrily, not wanting to risk the Alpha AI.

"Just trust me on this." The AI said, Washington nodded.

"Shit, watch your left." Church said just in time as the Meta tried to punch Washington. The freelancer quickly got out of the way and glared at Church.

"Can you be faster next time?" Washington asked.

"Sorry, I'm not used to this whole AI thing yet." Church said, the two then prepared to make their own moves in the fight.

"Well this will be fun." Washington said sarcastically.

Meanwhile

Caboose watched the fight outside, wanting to make sure Washington and Church were ok. The reds sat on the floor of the former blue base, leaning against the wall as they caught their breath. Tucker meanwhile was at Tex's side waiting for her to wake up.

"Why do you guys care so much about them?" Grif asked the blues, referring to Tex and Church.

"Well they're our friends." Caboose said turning to the orange spartan.

"But they're assholes!" Grif responded, before Caboose could even open his mouth Tucker spoke up.

"Don't call them that." The turquoise spartan said.

"Then what should I call them? I doubt either of them would stick their back out for you." Grif said. Caboose ignored this, knowing it wasn't true, but Tucker on the other hand was too headstrong to let this go.

"That isn't true." He said angrily.

"What ever you say." Grif said with a small laugh.

"Guys it's not looking good out there, I think we should help." Caboose said, Sarge shook his head.

"Your friend was the one who told all of us to come here and stop fighting. He obviously didn't want us to help." The red leader said.

"But the Meta's winning." Caboose replied.

"If Washington and Church need our help they'll tell us." Tucker told the blue spartan. Caboose looked back to the two freelancer's fighting unconvinced.

Washington was thrown backwards and landed on the ground with a thud. It took some effort to get up but he slowly staggered back to his feet. His helmet fell off his head and a trickle of blood ran down his face. Church appeared next to him, the AI had been trying his best to help out but it just wasn't working, the Meta was too powerful.

"Wash?" Church asked worried.

"I'm fine." The freelancer snapped.

"W-We don't have to do this, you can just give me to him and-" Washington cut Church off.

"That wouldn't do anything, he'd still cause trouble and suffering, this needs to end. All this shit with the Freelancer Program just needs to stop. I've already been responsible for enough problems, and I'll be damned if I'm responsible for any more." He said, Church appeared in front of Washington.

"It's not going to work Wash." The AI said flatly. He looked over to the blue base then back at the freelancer.

"If I became his AI I could hold him for at least a few minutes." Church said.

"Church-" Washington started but the AI cut him off.

"You could kill him, you can get this over with... You could get all of it over with..." He said referring to everything involving the Freelancer Program.

"It would kill you too, Church!" Washington yelled, the AI looked away from him.

"I know..." Church said.

"Yes, I want to get this over with but not that badly. I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself, I've lost enough friends." The freelancer told him.

"It's the only way Wash, we can't fight him! There's no other way we can win, we have to do it." Church said. Washington didn't respond, though he didn't want to admit it the AI was right.

"Take care of Caboose for me." Church said before running off to go to the Meta, who was charging towards Washington. The AI disappeared and the white and orange spartan stopped in his tracks, shaking violently.

"Church?" Washington asked, the AI appeared next to him.

"What the fuck? That wasn't me." Church said, the two looked towards the Meta as a gray spartan AI appeared.

"I can't stall him for long, quick do it, kill him." The AI said, Church walked closer to her.

"Tex?" He asked, Tex just said nothing.

"We can't do that to you." Washington told her.

"I was always just a shadow, just destined to fail, but now I can finally help, I can finally do something right. You're better than me Church, you're your own person, despite being based off of the Director you're different. You deserve to live a lot more than me." She said, Chuch turned to Washington.

"Do it now." He said, the freelancer stared at Church in shock.

"What?" Washington asked in a whisper.

"Do it now. She doesn't have much time left, we can't save her and even if we could... She'd be corrupted by him... This is all we can do..." The AI told him. Washington aimed his gun at the Meta but paused.

"I-I can't do this... I can't kill her...I can't kill the Meta... I can't kill Delta..." He said looking at the ground. Church disappeared, knowing what he had to do, he took control of the freelancer's body and loaded the gun.

"Goodbye Tex." Church said, his voice cracked a little.

"Tell Tucker I'm sorry." Tex said before disappearing.

A loud bang was heard through out the clearing as a shot was fired. Caboose, who was being reassured by the group that everything was fine, jumped when he heard this. His eyes widened and he ran over to the door of the base, tears formed in his eyes when the only thing he saw was Washington holding a gun up as the Meta fell to the ground. The group all came over to Caboose's side to see what was happening.

Church stood there, still in control of Washington's body. He wasn't sure what it was that finally made him pull the trigger, his desire to keep everyone safe, his hatred for all Tex had put him through, his wish to end all the freelancer problems, or the fact that Tex was already long gone. It scared him that he could do that, that he could pull the trigger that easily on a person he'd known for years, Church knew he had to do it but he wished there could've been another way. The AI let go control of Washington's body and appeared at his side.

"I'm sorry it had to come down to that..." Church said, Washington cleared his throat.

"It's fine... It's over now anyways..." He said before turning around and heading back to the group.

"Washington-" Church started but the freelancer cut him off.

"Go back to your body, Church." Washington said. Church obeyed the freelancer's order without a word. When Washington entered the blue base Caboose ran up to him.

"Where's Church, is he ok?!" The blue spartan asked, before Washington could respond Church started to stir, the AI had returned back to his body.

"Ugh..." Church said rubbing the back of his neck, Caboose turned around and went over to him, quickly grabbing the cobalt spartan in a hug.

"Church, Tex isn't waking up." Tucker said, he had returned to the former freelancer's side. Church and Washington shared an uneasy glance.

"Is something wrong?" Caboose asked Church after he seperated from the hug, Tucker looked over to Church and searched his face.

"Where is she?" He asked, the cobalt spartan looked down at the floor, tears formed in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Tucker..." Church said. Tucker's eyes widened.

"No, don't tell me she's-" Church cut Tucker off.

"She's gone." He said.

"H-how?" The turquoise spartan asked quietly. Church sighed and looked around the group uneasily before speaking up.

"We couldn't face the Meta... I was going to stall him by becoming his AI so Washington could kill him but..." The cobalt spartan trailed off.

"But what?" Tucker asked.

"She beat me to the chase." Church said, tears started to fall down his face. Tucker sprang up from where he was sitting.

"And you two killed her?!" He asked angrily.

"_**I**_ killed her, Washington couldn't do it so I took control of his body. It was the only way, she was going to become corrupted anyways, there was no way we could save Tex and have her still be herself." Church told him.

"I can't believe this! You of all people... You **murdered** her!" Tucker spat, Church backed up a little and Washington got in between the two.

"Stop. Don't you think we've had enough fighting for one day?" He asked, Tucker just glared at Church. Washington sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Come on, let's just go home." The freelancer said. Church took a breath and wiped his eyes, Caboose patted him on the back, hoping to help calm the cobalt spartan down. Washington walked over to the two.

"Are you coming back with us?" Caboose asked.

"Yeah, I guess, I just have to find a place to stay." Washington said, the blue spartan smiled and shared a glance with Church.

"Do you want to live with us?" Caboose asked.

"Us?" Washington asked. Caboose put his arm around Church.

"Yeah, Caboose and I are getting an apartment together back in Massachusetts." The cobalt spartan said with a small laugh.

"You know what, that actually sounds nice." Washington said a small smile as he started to walk off with the group. It may take a bit, but he knew that things would get better for the group, and though it will never be exactly the same, things would get back to normal. Sooner or later everyone would settle down, the anger would evaporate. Washington had a lot of faith in the group, they were his friends now after all. Though they may not have had a lot of training they were capable of doing great things, that's one of the many things he had learned.


End file.
